Formalities to bring your pet in Malta

Importing a dog from the UK
britishexpat.com/expatforum/malta/viewtopic.php?p=52562#52562

depends when you are planning on bringing your pet,as the law changes on 01.01.12.

And from where you are bringing your pet.

If it is from a rabies free or low incidence country (check list of qualifying countries) it will be much easier after 1.1.2012.

The pet still needs the rabies shot but the time frame is shorter. And the pet will need the pet passport and microchip.

Cheers
Ricky

maltaforme wrote:

depends when you are planning on bringing your pet,as the law changes on 01.01.12.

it should change, but no announcement from Maltese authorities yet

If not there will be another infringement case against Malta !

The latest case they lost was with gay partnerships under EU law...upcoming should be against TM (Maltese government)over the bus fares after Arriva admitted that their drivers are discriminating against foreigners by not asking for ID cards from Maltese looking and speaking citizens and also about the way the charges for electricity are calculated!

It could start to get expensive for the poor Maltese tax payer.

Malta has not Arriva'd in the EU yet.

Cheers
Ricky

Department of Fish & Farm Regulations has all the information you will need. http://vafd.gov.mt/documentation

We are currently writing an article about importing pets to Malta for andasmalldog.com, and until that publishes you can read about our experiences importing dogs to Malta on our blog at http://www.mike-jess.com/p/information- … alta.html.

The contact person at the FFRC Dept is Lucienne Cassar. Preparation period for bringing your pets to Malta (if they don't hold EU Pet Passports and were not previously vaccinated against rabies) is 6 months. If proper procedures are not followed (vaccinations and proof of vaccinations, paperwork correctly filled out, etc.) there is a quarantine period of up to six months (worst case scenario).

Advice: if you are not European try to work with a veterinarian in your home country who is familiar with procedures for importing dogs to Malta (or the UK which has similar regulations). Our pet import papers were incorrectly filled out by our Canadian vet and our dogs were quarantined for two days as a result (until we could get paperwork correctly filled out). In North America, get quotes for rabies vaccinations & blood tests from different vets - they can be very costly. Remember to have a government official meet you at the airport to check your pets & documentation. Finally, ask the FFRC Deptartment questions about the regulations and paperwork until you understand how to successfully complete all of the required procedures perfectly.

As others here already indicated, the regulations are currently changing, but for now the old rules still apply until the specific details of the new scheme are announced with a firm implementation date.

Has anyone heard when the new rules may come into affect and what specifically will be changing?

mike-jess wrote:

Advice: if you are not European try to work with a veterinarian in your home country

The issue isn't whether you are European, but whether the pets are coming from an European country.

I see all this about Dogs ..... I presume the cats are the same ??

Julian

Cats are the same (so are ferrets!), however, our experience was with dogs only.

I understand that pet passports are an EU wide thing therefore if you aren't European you may not be familiar with what pet passorts are. We, for instance, have no similar system in Canada so the whole pet passport concept was very different for us. Hope this clears things up!

(But you could substitute 'not European' for 'not already living in Europe' just as well.)

mike-jess wrote:

As others here already indicated, the regulations are currently changing, but for now the old rules still apply until the specific details of the new scheme are announced with a firm implementation date.

Has anyone heard when the new rules may come into affect and what specifically will be changing?

when ? - 1/1/2012
what ? - http://www.britishexpat.com/expatforum/ … hp?t=10585

from DEFRA (UK)

"The UK will harmonise its pet movement rules with the rest of the European Union from 1 January 2012.......The UK, along with Ireland, Sweden and Malta, has an exemption from the standard EU pet travel rules. They are all harmonising their entry rules with the rest of the EU at the same time as the UK "

Good to know, thanks George!

They probably favour Maltese over German Shepherds.
But what can you do ;-)

Saudade2012 wrote:

They probably favour Maltese over German Shepherds.
But what can you do ;-)

Under EU law covering double insularity, Gozitan shepherds have preferential treatment, but not Maltese ones

Hi If you are an Eu member there is normally no quarantine to get a pet in Malta if they are vaccinated for Rabies and others.  You can email the following to help you through - petstravel.mrra@gov.mt and customs on joanne.pace@gov.mt  These could help you a bit.  I know as I tried to get a puppy from abroad but too much complications and expensive travelling.  You can get a dog in an aeroplane but you have to contact the lines abroad.  Eg Ryain air will not do it but Lufthansa and Airmalta will do it for sure.  michael@eurofreight.com.mt - this could help you through the customs.

lucy67 wrote:

Hi If you are an Eu member there is normally no quarantine to get a pet in Malta

its not if you are an EU member, but if you are coming from an EU country

I brought 2 dogs in 8 weeks ago, so this is up to date [coming from EU]

Pet passport, microchip & rabies jab, at least 3 weeks before travel. Tapeworm treatment 1-5 days before arrival
Rabies & tapeworm must be certified by vet.

Contact Malta govt pet travel people, (google search will find it), fill in form, email back, wait about 3 weeks, get signed copy back

Take signed copy with you

You are met at port / airport by govt vet. He scans for microchip, checks number, checks paperwork, and you're done.

How did you manage to get the dogs through shipment?  By aeroplane or normal shipping?  Was it very expensive?

The expensive option is flying and animal goes a cargo rather than hand luggage.

I drove from the UK, wasn't going to put my two on a plane!

Added bonus to that decision is I have my car here and i could bring a few more things

Thank about the info.  I presume that you came with the catamaran or ship then.

Hi I hoping to fly my pet dog saffy, over to Malta, and being sent round in circles would like to speak with someone who has already done this, of all the procedures... Thanks in advance Tina

To Malta from where?

We flew in from Zürich on Sunday and a Maltese guy had his (small) dog with him on the plane.
When we arrived in Malta we asked him if he was being met by the vet and he said no.  He said he did it lots and had never been questioned or stopped in the airport!
Didn't have time to ask him about the paperwork involved.

Ours wasn't even going to be looked at until we insisted we could just have driven through customs and onto the main roads off the ferry.

Very very easily.

She was not looked at at any point of our uk to Malta journey.

Think of it as like bringing a gun into Malta - you are unlikely to be stopped, but if you are and you dont have the right paperwork, big trouble !

JayJay1970 wrote:

Ours wasn't even going to be looked at until we insisted we could just have driven through customs and onto the main roads off the ferry.

Very very easily.

She was not looked at at any point of our uk to Malta journey.

Its your responsibility to contact VAFD Malta and notify them when and where you are bringing in you pet. There is a form to fill in and return....

http://vafd.gov.mt/pet-travel-scheme?l=1

Otherwise you smuggling your pet into the country!!

Terry

There is indeed a form Terry and everyone should fill one in as I did do I'm only highlighting the flaws in the process of all the others on the ferry only we another couple with a dog and a horse box were checked.

I would never presume to advise on any type of smuggling and would be sorry for making it sound that way.

You can though phone through when you are booking the ferry and just fill in the form when you get there as the other couple did and the vet was happy to accept.

JayJay1970 wrote:

There is indeed a form Terry and everyone should fill one in as I did do I'm only highlighting the flaws in the process of all the others on the ferry only we another couple with a dog and a horse box were checked.

I would never presume to advise on any type of smuggling and would be sorry for making it sound that way.

You can though phone through when you are booking the ferry and just fill in the form when you get there as the other couple did and the vet was happy to accept.

Hi JayJay 1970
               Sorry, my advise / warning was aimed at people who assume that its not their responsibility to advise the authorities when bringing in a pet but the authorities responsibility to have someone waiting at the port just in case a pet arrives.
In fact we have had to wait at the docks once as the vet had not been notified of our arrival and no one stopped us when we drove off. He was not happy to be dragged out of bed but did give us his phone number so we could phone him in advance.
It does seem strange that the vet does not meet every ferry that arrives and that the ferry company do not notify Malta of any passengers arriving with a pet. 

Terry

It seems to me that on Malta whilst 'ignorance of the Law is no excuse' that no one informs anyone as to what it is in any context.
But then the Law on Malta moves in mysterious ways.